Logo Advice

[cookie1105]

Hi,
I have been charged with doing a css webpage redesign for a company selling chemicals for the mining industry. They would also like me to come up with a logo for them. I know a little bit about putting together webpages, but bugger all about logo design, so I could really do with some advice, critique etc... on this logo.

Instead of the 3d globe I am also thinking of maybe a metallic/chrome waterdrop. All of my attempts so far have been pretty crap.

Any feedback or advice is welcomed.

Thanks
Andy

 

[IEatApples]

When it comes to logos it's all about keeping it simple. It should be easily recognizable, and it should be related to the companies name or field/products (the apple logo is a good example).
Sorry I don't have an actual idea for you.

 

[panoz7]

When it comes to logos it's all about keeping it simple.

This is very true. I'd suggest minimizing any use of bevelling and embossing as well as other photoshop effects. The logo should reflect the company. It should make you think of the company without even reading the logo. Anyway, if I were you, I'd try to integrate a simple water drop into the logo... perhaps in one of the letters. I'm not sure how. I might play around with it a bit later.

 

[panoz7]

I just played around a bit:

 

[cookie1105]

That's really cool Panoz7.
The bevelling & embossing made it seem really 90's to me, but I couldn't think of another way to do it.
Your idea has given me a fresh wave of inspiration, Thanks a lot.

 

[flyfish29]

I just played around a bit:

That is really nice for "just playing around"

Could you mess with that logo Panoz7 did, put it in a blue background and chance the letter color? Or some way tie in blue into the logo?

I agree that it looks like a 90's thing- I like the globe part however because it speaks to the fact they are a global company, but is that the point then want to get across? I understand the water drop part, but flotation does infer that already- so is there another part of their business that would be key to include...mining, minerals, ??

Maybe a water droplet turning into a globe (or dropping onto a globe?)

I looked at their current web page and water doesn't strike me as a key part of their business per se. Is this the correct web page? http://www.nasaco.ch/safety.htm

Maybe this mission off their web page will help someone come up with an idea...I have no good ones...yet.

It is a company focusing on the flotation process and is run by metallurgical engineers. Our basic philosophy is to solve flotation and mineral processing problems chemically by providing collectors, frothers and depressants which are specific to different applications.

We have the flexibility of supplying the best product for the application because we are not limited by narrow product ranges. Because we work with different chemical companies we are able to deliver the best products, technology and support.

We provide solutions on the flotation of metallic and non-metallic minerals and coal.

We are present in Africa, America (North and South), Asia, Europe and the Pacific.

 

[srobert]

Just another little tip. Plan for the "worst case scenario". Sometimes
companies have to use the logo at very small sizes and in black and
white only. (I'm thinking newspaper here). Try to see how your logo
would look in Black and white and shrunk to 1" width.

I think you're on the right path with your latest version. The small
seriff font might fill in when the logo is used in white on a colored
background, especially if skrunk. You might want to use a nice looking
sans-seriff type for that slogan. Or if you want to keep seriffs, try one
with a more constant width. (i.e. no thinner parts like in the upper
and lower parts of the "o")

dafont.com is a good place to start when you ant to play around with
free (for personal use) fonts.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Just another little tip. Plan for the "worst case scenario". Sometimes
companies have to use the logo at very small sizes and in black and
white only. (I'm thinking newspaper here). Try to see how your logo
would look in Black and white and shrunk to 1" width.

Excellent advice. I always design my stuff in black and white and always have an idea how it will look when used small.

Try and stay away from 'photoshop logos' i.e. stuff with shadows, metallics, gradients etc. If the logo is ever faxed which it will most likely be for invoices, memos etc the nice metallic effect will just be a big black blob.

Keep everything as simple as possible. Try and get some background info on the company to see if it leads to anything you can use graphically that relates to the company. For example Apple and Shell are quite easy to cater for graphically but McDonalds for instance doesnt immediately offer a graphical solution so the designer used the letter M to create the logo. Try and play with the letter N. Also see if Nasaco offers info in a thesaurus - I doubt it on this occassion but you might be surprised. I always thesaurus a name when designing logos because its a quick way of brainstorming for high visual links to the name. I have a logo in my portfolio for a company called Monarch. I ran the name in a thesaurus and it told me that Monarch is a name of a butterfly so I used a butterfly as the icon. Sometimes it can really save you a lot of time and effort.

Take a look my website http://www.stuartluff.co.uk for some of my logos using these guidelines.

Hope this helps.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Yeah - lose the shadowing and bevelling. Make it work in one colour first.

 

[Shadow]

No offense, but that logo looks really tacky. I havnt got any ideas tho. Sorry!